For Your Eyes Only

~Niall’s POV~
“Niall Horan, I swear I’m going to send you someplace not even the paps can find you if you do this again,” Paul shouted, glaring at the injuries on my face. “What the heck are we supposed to tell the press when they get a load of this tonight?” he asked. I rolled my eyes and pushed past him into my hotel room.
“The truth, Paul. I was protecting my woman from some sick pervert who didn’t know what ‘no’ meant,” I replied easily. I didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Speaking of which, I swear I’m sending her home if you can’t keep your act together.”
“Paul, I’m twenty years old. I can take care of my responsibilities without you breathing down my neck all the time.”
“Look, I get that. I just want you to be able to focus, but I also don’t want you to be, like, depressed… you know?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, changing into my favorite pair of jeans and a white tank-top with a plaid shirt over it that I left open. Paul turned to leave, but I called out before he was out of ear-shot. “Sorry I snuck off.”
“I know. Sorry I chewed you out so bad for it.”
“Thanks.” These conversations were not common, but not unheard of between us and Paul. To tell the truth, we caused quite a bit of trouble when it came to sneaking out and girls and other things, but this was different. I wasn’t getting the boys to cover for me so I could get laid. I wasn’t smuggling in vodka shots before a show. I was caring for my girl, and vice versa. We needed each other.
“Stage in ten!” came the shout through the door. I grabbed my ear pieces and headed to the couch where I saw Annie sitting, nervously fidgeting in the midst of pre-stage buzz.
“Oi, Annie!” shouted Louis, coming out of his dressing room. “How’s our girl?”
“Hey, Lou,” she replied with a small smile. I knew she was tired. Jet lag was getting to both of us. “I’m better, now that I’m here.”
“Hey, Annie,” greeted Harry, taking a seat with Louis next to her. I almost expected to feel jealous or nervous about their proximity to her and her fondness for the three idiots, but I didn’t. Oh, speak of the devil. Here comes that last of our circus. Our perfect, childish little circus.
“Annie! Nialler, you brought her ba- what the heck did you do to your face?!” Liam exclaimed. The other boys noticed me standing to the side and gawked at my injuries. I flashed a cheeky grin to Annie, and knowing she wouldn’t want them to know the details, I summed it up nicely.
“Annie was having some boy trouble.”
“Oh, yes. Boys are definitely trouble. You should avoid them, Annie,” said Louis with a wink. She blushed and lightly shoved Lou to the side. I loved watching her. I could watch her just sit and be nervous all day. “So, did you two have fun spending the night-together-in the hospital?” he asked with a wink. She turned tomato red and rolled her eyes before getting up and slyly wrapping her arms around my waist. Even such a simple action left my skin tingling as she leaned into me.
“More fun than you’ve ever had, and all we did was sleep,” she retorted.
“Burn!” shouted Liam as the four of us laughed. I wrapped my arms around her, but pushed back the thoughts that her touch brought to my mind.
“I could spend the rest of my life sleeping next to you and be in heaven,” I whispered in her ear. She giggled and kissed my cheek before pulling away.
“You have stage in three minutes,” she said, pointing to the clock on the wall.
“A kiss for good luck?” I asked, grinning like an idiot. I wanted to go on stage with the taste of her lips on my tongue.
“Just one,” she replied, leaning in and pressing her lips to mine. She pulled away before I had the chance to respond, which drove me crazy. I groaned and pouted, but she was already running off to find her seat. She had insisted on being in the crowd tonight, even though I had told her it wasn’t a good idea, and she firmly denied a body guard. As submissive as she was most of the time, when she set her mind to something, there was no changing it.
We huddled together, whispering words of encouragement and cracking stupid nervous jokes. Finally we sat on our platforms, ready to be shot out onto the stage in front of thousands of people any second.
“Here goes nothing,” I said as the screaming filled our ears.

Notes

Boys are definitely trouble. I should know. I have three brothers.
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